Enlarge By Al Bello, Getty Images "He's an animal," Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel says of safety Brian Dawkins. "He's a hell of a player and I love playing with him. He plays with a lot of emotion and a lot of heart and he just wants to win."  IN 'THE HUDDLE' Get the latest buzz from around the NFL in 'The Huddle,' USA TODAY's football blog  CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS NFC Championship: Who has the edge as Eagles, Cardinals face off at 3 p.m. ET Sunday? AFC Championship: Matchups, positional analysis for Ravens-Steelers contest at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday NFL Replay: Wild playoffs turning front-runners, top seeds into has-beens Photo gallery: Around the NFL for the best shots, biggest plays from the playoffs Road to the Super Bowl: Times, dates and more for all the playoff games, teams Weekly picks: Our NFL analysts project the winners for every weekend The Coin Flip: Reid Cherner and Tom Weir lay out the scores for each week's games NFL in the snow: Photos: Catch up with the gridiron as a winter wonderland

An end to the Philadelphia Eagles' season. An end to his stay with the club. The termination of his career.

At 35, the Eagles' Pro Bowl free safety's list of accomplishments and honors rolls on endlessly. No Eagles player has taken part in more regular-season games (183) or intercepted more passes (34). None has set such a ferocious example.

The Eagles (11-6-1) play the Arizona Cardinals (11-7) Sunday for the NFC championship and a berth in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa on Feb. 1. Dawkins has played once in the Super Bowl, but never won it. His contract expires when the season ends. One game, two games, maybe more with the Eagles, maybe more somewhere else. Or maybe no more at all.

"You're talking about the cornerstone of the defense and of this team," strong safety Quintin Mikell says. "When you think of the Eagles' D, you think of Dawk."

Having come this far, the Eagles want to win it all, and many of them say they would like to do so for Dawkins, without whom there would have been neither a journey nor a destination.

"That means a lot, but I don't want them to try to just win this for me, I really don't," the 13-year veteran says. "I want them to try to win it all for all of us. I put in a lot of time here, absolutely. But I'm not the only one."

Yet he's the torch, the heat, the source of so much passion.

"That's who I am, and that's what I try to do for my teammates, not just because of the game of football but because I think they depend on me for certain things, and I want to be there for them."

Before the final game of the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys, which the Eagles needed to win to qualify for the playoffs, Dawkins stalked the sidelines at Lincoln Financial Field encouraging the home crowd and saluting the fans. Final: 44-6, Eagles.

After the divisional playoff victory against the New York Giants, he was a sobbing presence, spent after a 23-11 triumph.

"So many things brought it up — the magnitude of the game, the magnitude of the win and how much was actually poured out on that field," Dawkins says. "It was a very physical game for me and I actually got put on my butt a couple of times out there. Thinking back to where I was last year and where I was at the beginning of the season and all of the questions not just about me but about this team, how much I care for these guys and how much it meant for us to move forward. All of those things just came spewing out."

The last few years weren't easy. In the spring of 2007, his wife Connie's medically-complicated pregnancy required bed rest. Twin daughters Chionni and Cionni were born two months prematurely, each weighing three pounds. They required hospitalization for 17 days and Cionni, the younger, also had problems breathing.

Both went home healthy and their dad departed for training camp exhausted. The Eagles finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs. Whether or not Dawkins could still play at his previous level became an often-asked question and one he seems to have answered firmly with the selection to his seventh Pro Bowl.

The recent season had its valleys and is still peaking. The Eagles were 5-5-1 and seemingly out of playoff contention before making their late run. Now they're in their fifth NFC title game in coach Andy Reid's 10-year tenure.

Much of that can be credited to the NFL's third-ranked defense. The Eagles did not allow the Cowboys to score a touchdown, then in the playoffs held the Minnesota Vikings to two touchdowns and the Giants without any. No need to ask who lit the fire.

"He's an animal," says cornerback Asante Samuel. "He's a hell of a player and I love playing with him. He plays with a lot of emotion and a lot of heart and he just wants to win."